Buyers in the Internet Age

Buyers in the Internet Age

Before the advent of online real estate listing sites like StreetEasy, prospective NYC home purchasers relied on real estate brokers for each aspect of the purchasing process, including supplying viable sales listings. As we all know, that’s no longer the case! The internet has forever changed the way buyers navigate procuring a home: virtually every listing is available online for both professionals and lay-buyers to peruse.

Though many people begin their search by casually clicking through online listings, hard-earned experience has taught me that an introductory meeting with the broker, followed by squaring away a pre-approval (if financing), before looking at listings is still the most efficient way to begin your purchase process.

Regardless, the presentation of an apartment’s listing online has become a paramount factor in the apartment’s success- and whether you’re a buyer or a seller, it’s vital that you work with a broker that knows how to utilize to your advantage the internet and all the benefits it can offer.Take a look at the following statics to understand why.

43% of buyers looked online for a home as their first step in the home-buying process

92% of buyers used the internet during their home search process

50% of buyers use a mobile app.

Google searches for real estate listings tend to peak in July. In July 2014 these searches reached their highest point since 2008.

Top five things people search for on their mobile device:

How to contact an agent directly

Directions to a home

More information on a listing

Apartment listings themselves

Video of a home

At Compass, we have some of the best proprietary app technology available, powered by twenty best-in-class engineers (not just your standard IT people). When using the app, you can look at listings and their photos, get all the key details on the apartment, contact the agent if you have interest in the property, find out where it is as all listings have embedded google map pinpoints on them, and if there is a video, kick back and watch.